Estado & sido

[bigsmile]

I am a little confused about when to use estado and sido

Several internet resources list the following:
Estado is from estar and sido is from ser. Hence, estado releases to location.

Estado is for changing states. Sido is for permeant traits


But then in a Spanish course it has the following examples:

1) They are being what they always [have]
been.
Están siendo lo que siempre [they have] sido.

2) They are doing as they always [have] been.
Están como siempre [they have] estado.

3) He has been fine.
Ha estado bien.

4) He's very well, as always [he has] been.
Está muy bien, como siempre [he has] estado.

5) The [ladies have] been with the [man].
Las [ladies have] estado con el [man].

6) [We have] been [good friends].
sido

None of these examples follow the rules of changing/permeant states or locations.

So why is sido used in some examples and estado in another (especially in examples 1 & 2, which seem to be saying the same thing [e.g. they both say been]).